Karma
by beeftony
Summary: What goes around comes around...


_Kim Possible is owned by Disney. I own this work of fiction. I make no profit from this._

_Summary: What goes around comes around…._

_**WARNING! This story contains VERY detailed descriptions of brutal torture as well as blood and gore. If you have a weak stomach and/or find such material offensive, **__**STOP READING NOW.**_

**Karma**  
a_ Kim Possible_ fanfic  
by Jonathan Harrison  
aka beeftony

* * *

_Law III: All forces occur in pairs, and these two forces are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction_.

-Newton's Law of Reciprocal Actions

* * *

I'm sitting on a distant shore, watching the waves crash endlessly against the surf. I listen to the sound they make as they assault the natural barrier time and again before retreating to gather their strength for another charge. Only a fool would dare to raise a sword against such an unstoppable force. But a wise man constructs a wall. 

LIGHT! In my face, blinding me. I'm ripped away from my perch overlooking the sea and find myself on my back. I try to sit up, to reclaim the vision, but find my arms and legs bound. I jerk my head left and right, but see only darkness. The light shines on me alone.

Where the fuck am I?

I shake my head, trying to remember how I got here.

A flash of red hair. Boot headed towards my face. Duck! Too late. Punched in the gut. Raise my arm to block a right hook. Don't see her foot coming until it's too late. Look out!

Too slow. Dizzy now. Room spinning and tilting. Other foot barreling towards my face. Duck, goddammit! Can't react in time. Feel the hard stone floor rush up and smack me in the face. Hear her cackle in triumph over my defeated body.

Then nothing, save for the steady crashing of the waves.

I shudder as cold air brushes across my exposed skin, revealing to me that I'm naked. Fan-fucking-tastic.

I clench my hands into fists, triggering a nerve impulse that activates my powers.

"Fwoosh!"

Now that's more like it. Time to get out of here.

I pull against my restraints, but they won't budge.

"What the hell?" I look over and see that although my hands are radiating heat, my shackles aren't even glowing. I power down and take a closer look at this mysterious metal that has thwarted my plans for escape.

Adamantium. I should have known. Leave it to Nerdlinger to invent something from one of his comic books.

Alright, no need to panic. I can find a way out of here. Just need to….

To….

Goddammit!

I squirm, trying to slip out of my restraints. When that doesn't work, I buck my hips up and down, but all that gets me is a bruised ass. I growl and tug on my chains with all my superhuman might, but they hold firm. I'm trapped.

Fuck.

I hear my captor approach. See her round face framed by red hair emerge from the blackness that surrounds me.

Oh you gotta be kidding me….

"Kimmie?" Didn't expect _her _to be here. Oh, wait; _now_ I remember. She's the one who knocked me out and captured me. Shit.

She grins like the devil himself. "Hello, Shego."

"What the fuck is going on?" I demand.

She ignores me, instead turning around and grabbing something from what I assume is an instrument table. When she faces me again, she's holding a scalpel.

Oh HELL NO!

"I still have to thank you, you know," Kimmie begins to monologue. "If you hadn't've hit me with the Reverse Polarizer I'd still be Kim Possible, basic average girl." She snickers.

I gulp as she runs a lithe finger across the tip of the scalpel, testing its sharpness. "I was trying to bring you over to my side," I insist. "I was trying to make you evil."

"And you succeeded," she sneers before twisting her expression into a mock pout. "Why so sad?" she taunts. "You got what you wanted, right?"

Yeah, I did. And that's exactly what's wrong. I never expected her to be _this_ evil.

"It's your own fault, really," she continues, crossing her arms behind her back and beginning to pace. "Anyone who cared enough to think things through would realize that the effects of the Reverse Polarizer are dependent on how good or evil you are to begin with." She pauses.

"It's like a number line, Shego," Kimmie explains. "A number's value is determined by its distance from zero. The greater the distance, the greater its absolute value, yes?"

I nod. I always was good at math. Too bad I never cared enough to pursue it.

"So if a number line stretches from negative ten to ten, what happens to a one as opposed to… oh, say, a five?"

"Huh?"

"What happens when two numbers of different value are flipped, Shego? Which one moves the greatest distance along the number line?"

"Five, doy."

"Now what would happen if you flipped a ten?"

I don't answer. It's a rhetorical question anyway.

"You get _me_," Kim sneers in response to her own inquiry. See, told ya. Rhetorical question.

"So what now?" I ask. "What're you gonna do?"

She doesn't answer, studying the scalpel instead. I close my eyes.

"Now count backwards from a hundred, Shego," the anesthesiologist tells me.

"Fmnk ywu," is my muffled reply.

He laughs heartily, like he thinks I'm joking. Fucker.

I want so badly to burn my way out of here, but as I overheard one of the doctors mention, the drug they've pumped into me has the temporary effect of shorting out my powers. They call it a "precaution;" as though I'm some sort of animal to be dealt with. Can't say I blame them, though; they are, after all, correct in assuming that I'd eviscerate each and every one of them if I had the chance. But I still hate them for it.

Since when did the ability to light your hands on fire make you less than human? Hell, I'm _super_human! "Super" means "above," dammit! But what matters is that I'm still the minority. These assholes outnumber me six billion to one.

And now they've taken away the one thing that makes me special. Even though I know it's only temporary, I can't stand to be away from it even for a little while. It's all I have now. I lost my parents, my brothers are a bunch of morons, and the whole fucking city hates me for what I did. That's why I'm here and my brothers are still out acting like they live in a goddamn comic book. Late at night, the only thing that gives me comfort is watching that soft, gentle green glow as the plasma dances around my fingers. Now it's gone.

Nothing can compare to the sense of loss I feel right now. It's like they've taken away part of my soul. I feel empty. Violated. They fucked with my body and they act like I'm just going in to get my tonsils removed. Why not just cut my hands off? They're useless now anyway.

I open my eyes, unable to watch any more. Goddamn flashbacks.

That was the first time I was tied down and cut open like the goose who laid the golden egg. It wasn't the last. I fucking _hate_ being restrained.

"Daydreaming, Shego?"

"Just thinking of the last time someone tied me down like this. At least_ they_ had the decency to cover me up."

"Yeah, well, I prefer an open canvas when I work," Kim replies nonchalantly. She flashes me a sly grin. "And you have to admit, the view _is_ exquisite."

What the fuck? Did she just hit on me?

The leering expression on her face vanishes and she scowls. "You're gonna pay for all the trouble you ever caused me, Shego."

"What, kicking me into an electrical tower wasn't enough? Now you've gotta play 'Operation' on me?"

"Why not? I already did it to Drakken. He was too weak, though. Broke before I could even cut him open. You'll be much more fun to play with."

I cringe at the thought of my late employer dying at the hands of this monster I've created. He didn't do anything to deserve that. Neither have I. But then that doesn't matter to her, does it?

"Yeah, well, I've threatened him enough times that he probably just wanted to get it over with," I reason. "He learned pretty quickly that the threat of pain is often worse than the pain itself."

"The pain is still pretty bad," counters Kim. The scalpel draws closer to my navel. "Excruciating, even. Enough to make you scream…."

Oh, you'd better not….

I feel a sharp pain in my gut. I look down to see that the blade of the scalpel has disappeared completely beneath my flesh.

OH. MY. GOD.

"OW! That fucking hurts, Princess!"

"Kinda the point, don'tcha think?"

Okay, true, but still, WHAT THE FUCK?! Why does it hurt in my back if she's stabbing me in the gut? Shouldn't the pain be localized there? Why the hell am I even thinking about this? She's got a fucking SCALPEL in my GUT!

OUCH! Quit dragging it! Do you have any fucking idea how much that HURTS, Princess?!

Yeah, you probably do. Fuck you!

Oh, good; she's taking it out. Why the hell does it hurt even more now?! Doy, 'cause she's _pushing_ on it! Quit doing that!

Damn it, Kimmie! I go easy on you for all those years, going out of my way to avoid killing you because I thought you could be turned, and THIS is how you fucking repay me?! I did you a fucking _favor_ by turning you evil! Why the hell are you cutting me open?!

And why the hell am I thinking all this instead of saying it? Probably 'cause I can't even form words right now. It fucking HURTS!

Damn it, Shego, don't go soft now! You've gotta fight this! Fight her! Be strong! You can put up with torture! I know you can!

Okay, why the hell am I talking to myself like I'm someone else? Maybe 'cause I'm not acting like myself.

OW! Stop that right now, Kimmie! What the hell are you doing? Why does it hurt so much?! It hurt less when you kicked me into that goddamn tower, for fuck's sake!

No! Not the fucking scalpel again! Get that away from me! Get—

"OWWWW! What the fuck do you WANT from me, Princess?!"

She leans in close to my face. "What do I want? Simple. I want to cause you pain, Shego. I want to see you at my mercy. I want to hear you scream as I put you through hell."

"Will you… stop if I… scream?" I ask between labored breaths.

She places a finger to her chin and looks thoughtful. "Maybe," she says.

Well, fuck then! If that's what it takes to get you to stop, I'll scream anything you want me to! I may be stubborn but I'm not fucking STUPID! Anything to stop the PAIN!

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"What's that, Shego? I didn't hear you."

Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding me….

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"Louder! And beg!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! Stop it, Princess! Please, stop! I'll do anything you want! Just STOP!"

"Not yet. Not until you admit I'm better than you."

"You're better than me! You're the best that ever was! Just QUIT CUTTING ME OPEN!"

"I don't think you mean that…."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you, you SICK FUCK?! You're getting off hearing me scream!"

"Tut, tut, Shego. Name calling won't get you anywhere."

"Who the fuck are you, my MOTHER?!"

"No yelling either. Just screaming." She plunges the blade deeper.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

I feel the pressure on my belly suddenly cease. I let my head collapse back onto the hard steel of the operating table, soft whimpers escaping the clutches of my throat.

"Why?" I choke.

She snickers. "Not so tough now, are ya?"

I snort. "Why do they always say that?" I wonder aloud.

"Okay, I'll admit that was a little lame," says Kim. "But still, I thought you'd be tougher than this. I mean, I remember once kicking you so hard in the stomach that you should have puked up your spleen, which knocked you into a signal tower that electrocuted you and then collapsed on top of you and carried you down seven stories. And after all of that, the only thing that got messed up was your hair."

"Yeah, and I screamed bloody murder when you kicked me, didn't I?" I counter. "Not to mention the nerve burn the electrocution gave me. I may be damn near invulnerable, but I feel the pain just as much as anybody else, Princess."

"Yeah, but what about when we're fighting and I score a really good hit on you? I don't hear you screaming then."

I chuckle. "First of all you don't have anywhere _near_ the level of strength it would take to hurt me that badly in hand-to-hand combat, not without a supersuit anyway, and second, the adrenaline covers what my powers don't."

"So then why are you screaming your head off when all I did was cut you open?"

"Because you _asked me to_, doy," I snap. "I'm not a fucking masochist, Kimmie. I don't like being in pain any more than the next person. And if screaming is what it takes to get me out of here, I'll do it. My body is a lot more important to me than my dignity, Princess. The only person who's stubborn enough and stupid enough not to give in to something like this is _you_."

She smiles and taps the bloody scalpel against her chin. "I only seem to recall that I'd stop with the _scalpel_ if you screamed nice and loud for me. By the way, that was excellent. I'm recording this session right now so I'll have something relaxing to listen to tonight when I try and go to sleep." She giggles.

Okay, that's just creepy.

"But who said anything about you getting out of here?" she finishes.

"You mean you're gonna torture me to _death_?!"

"You sound surprised. Did it really take you _that long_ to figure it out?"

"Just doesn't seem like your style is all. You've never been the killing kind, Princess."

"But remember," she says, tapping the side of her head. "When you hit me with the Reverse Polarizer, it did exactly what its name says it does. It reversed my polarity so that my moral code is basically the opposite of what it used to be. So now I _am_ the killing kind." She grins malevolently.

Shit, I forgot about that.

"But you're not gonna die for a while now. We've still got so much more to do; and so much time to do it in!"

I roll my eyes. "Getting a _little_ tired of your monologuing here, Princess. I got enough of that from Dr. D to last a lifetime. Quit talking about what you're gonna do to me and get it the hell over with already."

She blinks. "Okay, if you insist…." She reaches behind her and grabs a pair of pliers from the table.

"What the fuck are _those_ for?"

"Leverage."

"What are you gonna do, pull my teeth out?"

She grins. "Maybe later. But for now, I'm going to do something much more painful." She walks to the side of the table, stopping by where my right hand is restrained. "You know, a lot of people say that the hands are the most important non-vital part of the body. You can live without them, but it's such a miserable existence. For you it's even worse. Your power is concentrated in your hands. It'd be a shame if something happened to 'em, huh?"

I roll my eyes for what feels like the millionth time. "Quit jabbering and get to the fucking point already!"

"I'm going to break your fingers, Shego," she tells me. "One by one."

"So what the hell are the pliers for?"

"Well, like I said; your powers are concentrated in your hands. I couldn't just use my bare hands, now could I? Hence the pliers made of Adamantium, the same lovely metal that's keeping you restrained. It's really quite ingenious."

"And let me guess: you're gonna keep going until I scream again, aren't you?"

A sinister smile paints her features and she shakes her head ominously. "No, that's too easy. You've already done it, so how much more could you really humiliate yourself by screaming? I want to make you feel weak. I want you to feel totally helpless; out of control for once in that pathetic excuse for an existence that you call a life. I'm not stopping until I make you cry."

I scoff. "That's it? Well good luck with that, Princess. I've only got ten fingers."

I take the sudden pressure just above the knuckle of my middle finger as her response.

I smirk at her. "Do your worst, Pumpkin. I dare you."

"As you wish," she says before bending my finger in half.

"OOOOOOWWWWWWW!"

Okay, Shego, THAT was stupid! You and your stupid pride. Shit, is she_ grinding _it?! It feels like she's sticking hot needles in my _spine_! This fucking HURTS!

I grit my teeth and bull through the pain. I've experienced worse than this. This is nothing. I can—

"CRACK!"

My index finger snaps so hard it sounds like a pistol shot. Goddamn, it_ feels_ like one too!

"EEEAAAGGGYAAAAAAHHH!"

"Remember, Shego," I hear her whisper into my ear while I writhe in pain. "You can stop this any time you like. All you have to do is cry."

I try to light up, but with two of my most important digits incapacitated I can't flex far enough to activate my powers. FUCK!

This fact does not go by Kim, who ditches the pliers and grips my ring finger with her bare hands.

"Ready to cry yet?"

"FUCK YOU!" I scream, even as tears are already welling up, stinging my eyes as I hold them hostage. I can't give in to her. Not yet.

"Wrong answer," she growls before pulling my finger out of its socket.

"FREEEEEEEEEDDDOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!" I shout, a mixture of chuckles and sobs garbling the last syllable of the exclamation.

"You think that's funny?!" she squawks. "You think I'm fucking_ joking_?!"

"You… you were always too goddamn serious for your own good, Princess," I breathe. "You could always dish it out, but you could never take it. You haven't changed a bit in that regard." I begin to laugh hysterically, wishing I could bring my hands down to hold my split abdomen together.

"I don't see what's so FUNNY about this situation! A minute ago you were telling me you'd do anything I wanted you to!"

"As long as it got me out of here, yeah!" I point out. "But you're gonna kill me anyway, so I might as well have some fun needling your stuck-up ass!" My laughter dissolves into choking. The open wound in my gut is literally killing me from laughing so hard, but at this point I don't give a fuck. Might as well die laughing.

"What the hell is so FUNNY?!"

"YOU!" I shout, spitting out the blood that has begun seeping from my mouth. "You're even more fun to mock than Drakken! You're just so fucking uptight about everything! You need to learn to loosen up!"

"I AM NOT UPTIGHT!" she roars. I just laugh harder.

I've been laughing so hard that I'm not even aware of the fact that she's grabbed the scalpel again until it's embedded in my thigh. My laughter stops abruptly and I have to stifle a cry of pain.

"Ow! What the hell was that for?"

"Laughing at me!" she screams like a psychotic little girl.

"Aw, did I hurt widdle Kimmie's feewings?" I mock. This is turning out to be more fun than I thought it would be. Not that I ever thought it would be fun. "Even Drakken's not this childish!"

She pulls the scalpel out of my leg and stabs me again near the same spot.

"Hey! Why'd you do that?"

"Quit playing stupid! I _know_ you're just doing that to annoy me!"

I snicker. "True. Still, you didn't answer my question."

"Do I need to?! It's for comparing me to that blue baboon you used to call a boss!"

"You're more similar than you think, Princess. OW! Quit stabbing me!"

"Quit saying I'm like Drakken!"

"Well you are. Both of you are such fucking overachievers that you've each picked a goal that's impossible to achieve. Whether you're trying to save the world or conquer it, it doesn't make a difference to me. You're both hopeless. And fun to mock."

"RRRRAAAAAAGH!" she shrieks, trying to pull out her hair in frustration. Victory.

…Or not. Wonder what those gloves are for….

Hm, she's grabbing the scalpel again. Probably wants to do something with that….

OH HELL NO!

"What, you didn't cut deep enough the first time? What the fuck are you gonna DO, Princess?!" I shout as the tainted blade inches closer to my already wounded midsection.

She doesn't answer, her face frozen in an expression of psychotic glee.

NO! Don't! Don't cut me again! At least leave me in one piece _before_ you kill me!

OW! Hey, quit pressing! You're bringing up more blood! What are you…?

GAH! Get your hands OUT of me, Princess! What the fuck are you DOING?!

Spots swim across my vision and my whole world spins. I can barely make out the fact that she's holding my intestines in one hand, with what looks like a giant carving knife in the other.

Oh God….

"I'm gonna make you EAT YOUR WORDS, Shego!" she screeches before chopping my intestine in half.

PAIN! Everywhere, all around me, ALL AT ONCE! I can feel her squeezing me, forcing my innards closer to my mouth even though my vision has already faded to black.

This is gonna taste worse than Drakken's meat loaf….

Oh, ICK! It's in my mouth! MY FUCKING INTESTINE IS IN MY MOUTH!

God, I'm gonna….

"BLAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH!"

Fuck, she's pushing it deeper! I can't….

"MMMMMMBBGGEEHHHHBLEEEEEEAAAAGGGHHH!"

"NOT SO TALKATIVE NOW, HUH?!"

Like I can fucking respond to that….

"MMGGGGHEEEEBBBLEAAAAARRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"

Can't breathe…. Drowning….

"BLECH!" She pulls it out finally, allowing me to deposit my last meal on the floor.

Everything's spinny all of a sudden….

"Had enough?"

Huh? What're you talking about, Princess? Where am I? Why are there six of you? I thought I told Drakken no clones….

"BAM!"

What was that? Is somebody at the door? Better go get it, Princess. What if it's the postman? Or your mother? Nah, why would your mother be visiting you in your dungeon? That'd just be rude.

"Miss Possible, we have you surrounded! Come out with your hands up!"

Who is that? What do they want? Do you think they have a sewing needle large enough to stitch me back up?

"Shit! Shit, shit, SHIT! We barely even had time to get started!"

"Miss Possible, we're breaking down the door now. This is your last chance to surrender."

"Look, Shego, I need you to cry for me. That way this hasn't all been a big waste. I can't win unless you cry. Do you hear me?! I need you to CRY!"

Whoa, back up, Princess. And maybe brush your teeth. Your breath smells awful….

"Please, Shego, I need you to cry for me. CRY!"

"BANG!"

Hey, look, the lights are on. That's good. It was awful dark in here. Now I can see. Hey, that reminds me of a song….

"I can see clearly now, the rain is gone…."

"I told you to CRY, not SING! Have you lost your MIND?!

"I can see all obstacles in my way…."

OW! Hey! No need to stab me. I was just singing….

"Miss Possible, you are under arrest for the kidnapping and murder of Drew Theodore Percy Lipsky, alias Dr. Drakken…."

Hey, who's that? Oh, the Asian guy with the bowl cut. Looks like a real tight-ass if you ask me.

"Shego, I need you to cry. I won't win unless you cry. NOW CRY!"

"…as well as the kidnapping and attempted murder of Shego, real name unknown."

What can I say? I cover my tracks well. Man, Kimmie, you really need to invest in some quality mouth wash. It smells like _you_ took a bite of my intestines while I wasn't looking.

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…."

"CRY, DAMN YOU! CRY!"

"You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you…."

"RRRAAAAAAGH!" she pulls away from me and grabs the knife, snapping me out of my fugue long enough to see her charge at the agent reading her her rights. Before she can get within five feet of the guy, he raises his left arm and presses a button on his wrist watch, causing a cable to fly out and paralyze her with a small electric shock.

Hey, that's a neat trick….

I'm sitting on the shore again. It's like I never left. I look down to find everything as it should be: no severed intestines sticking out, no broken fingers, no stab wounds in my leg. I'm whole again.

I look out at the sea, watching the waves as they roll in. It'll be high tide soon. The time where the water makes its last ditch effort to consume as much of the land as it can take and drag it out to sea.

That's the nature of the waves: they crash against the land time and time again, each time claiming a small part of the solid earth that makes up about a quarter of this planet. But it can't take more than a few grains of sand at a time. And even then, they don't dissolve; they just sink to the bottom.

One of the most fascinating things about nature is its balance. Everywhere you look, you see equilibrium. Push and pull. Up and down. North and South. Opposites. Reflections of each other. All working in opposition and yet in tandem at the same time; keeping each other in check. When one grows stronger, its companion responds in kind and brings itself to the level of its rival.

Sometimes, though, a wave will be too big, too strong, for the land to hold it back. It will blast through previously uncrossed boundaries, wreaking havoc until it crashes into oblivion like all others before and after it, the extraordinary display resulting in the same ordinary result. It's just the balance of nature at work.

Everyone has an opposite; a rival. The laws of nature apply to humanity as well. Princess was always a force of nature to be dealt with. So was I. It's what made us such a great pair, and what drove us to fight most of the time. But I can't say I didn't enjoy any of those times. It was fun while it lasted.

I don't know what's going to happen now. For now I'm just gonna enjoy watching the waves. It really is relaxing.

I look up at the stars, then down at the ocean below. I smile.

It was worth it. All of it. If I'm going down, I'm taking her with me. Where would I be without the one person who keeps me balanced? I'm no angel, so I turned her into the devil so we would match. If I had the chance to do it all over again, I wouldn't change a thing.

See you in Hell, Princess.

**The End**

(Seriously!)

* * *

_No, I will not apologize for that. I warned you at the beginning that it was going to be sick, but did you listen? Nooooo._

_LOL_

_So it's just before Christmas, and here I am writing horror. I just don't get into the holiday spirit all that much. But hey, there's blood in this, and Shego's skin is green, so it counts! Yeah…._

_I wrote this because I wanted to do something different than my normal fare. The first person/present tense format is designed to allow the reader to live the experience with the characters, therefore eliciting more emotion from the audience. The reason it's so much shorter than most of my other work is because I eliminated a lot of the peripheral details in an effort to focus solely on Shego. I think I did a fairly decent job on it. Let me know what you think._

_Special thanks go to Shinji Shazaki for being brutally honest with me and reminding me that the best stories show instead of tell. It wouldn't have been half as sickening without her help. The first draft of this read more like a gore movie than true horror, but I hope I've done a good enough job with it that it has the ability to scar people for life. I'd also like to thank Kokuyo and SickAndWrong for suggesting that I focus less on describing the torture itself and more on Shego's reaction to it. Since the reader's perspective essentially IS Shego's, that makes a lot of sense._

_Shego was difficult to write in this one, which is odd because normally her character is the easiest for me to write. I kept wanting to make her apologetic, but I had to remind myself that Kim is the martyr, while Shego likes to be a pest. I hope her behavior here is what most people would consider in-character._

_Shego's exclamation of "FREEDOM!" is, in fact, a reference to "Braveheart." As punishment for his treason, William Wallace (Braveheart) was executed by disembowelment. He shouted "FREEDOM!" at the top of his lungs as a last show of defiance. I found the premise of this story too similar to that historical event to pass it up._

_The finger-breaking segment is an homage to "An Unacceptable Sitch" by Allaine, one of the finest KP stories out there and the beginning of a wonderful series that just recently concluded with "Under the Milky Way Tonight." I highly recommend it._

_I'd also like to take this opportunity to plug the Third Annual Fannie Awards over on Zaratan's forum. I'm hoping I'll do well this year, but I don't really have any expectations of winning. To be honest I'd just be glad to make the top five. Head on over to his forum and check out the stickied threads. First round of voting begins January 1__st._

_The following is a list of songs that I listened to while writing this to help get me in the proper frame of mind. If I were to make this into a songfic, these songs would be at the top of my list._

_1.__** Points of Authority**__ by Linkin Park_

_The lyrics of this song describe Kim from Shego's POV, and any tortured person's view of the torturer in general. I didn't do this intentionally, but you'll notice that several of the conversations in the story mirror the basic message conveyed by the lyrics of this song._

_2.__** Down With the Sickness**__ by Disturbed_

_The pulse-pounding, adrenaline-inducing, seat-of-your-pants ACTION! conveyed by this song was the feeling I tried to go for in the torture segments. Also, the lyrics, as well as the general theme of the song, reflect the fact that the demon in Kim has been woken up, and now the world is a very scary place indeed for anyone she considers an enemy._

_3.__** Bodies**__ by Drowning Pool_

_Some of you may know this song for its famous line of "Let the bodies hit the floor" repeated several times at the beginning in a whisper before suddenly escalating into full-blown screaming. The psychotic rage conveyed by this song was a major factor in Kim's development. I wanted her to be, for lack of a better term, bat-shit crazy by the end, with a slow build up to that point. I think the opening segment of the song reflects that slow development topped off by a sudden, radical transformation perfectly._

_4. __**Shout at the Devil**__ by Mötley Crüe_

_I needed to find a song that reflected Shego's defiance in the face of ultimate evil so that I wouldn't be tempted to make her all weepy, and this fit the bill perfectly. A lot of her general attitude in some of the segments was inspired by listening to this over and over._

_These author's notes are getting really long, so I'll end it here by saying I'm really glad you took the time to read all this and I hope you all have a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!_

**beeftony**


End file.
